So, for what shall I ask?

About a 7 minute read.

Early morning. Quiet time. Time with Jesus.

I find myself reading the familiar words without thinking.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Matthew 7:7)

I am jarred into wide-awake, alertness. . .  Wait. . .  Think. . .  This is your Lord Jesus talking to you!

And the next verse slams it home with realtime-repeat-emphasis as if to nail it with two exclamation points. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:8)

I start thinking about how too familiar I have let these precious words become. Precious Lord Jesus, what are you saying that you want me to hear and to do?

Three action verbs. Three promises.

Ask and it will be given to you . . .

For what shall I ask? 

It makes me think of the two blind guys crying out, “‘Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!’ Jesus stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked” (Matthew 20:31-32). They asked for their sight. Jesus had compassion. And they received their sight!

It’s okay to ask for healing, and provision, and those kinds of urgent things that may preoccupy our minds. But I’ve been asking myself, for what shall I ask that I already know Jesus wants to give?

In the context, Jesus is offering a teaching (Matthew 5-7, the “Sermon on the Mount”) in which He challenges conformity to religious legalism, probing to the heart of things. He continually seems to return to the heart of the matter, the matter of the heart. In contrast to mere religiosity, He addresses who we really are and who He really wants us to be.

As I ruminate on Jesus’ words, I am reminded that what I ask for should align with what He wants to give–and it will be given! Click here for a growing list of things a fervent follower of Jesus should ask for, things that He clearly desires for us to have.

. . . seek and you will find . . .

The two blind guys were certainly seeking! Crying out. Persisting. It didn’t matter that everyone was telling them to be quiet and not bother Jesus.

The Spirit nudges my meditation. Seeking is dynamic. Seeking is high energy, focus, highest priority. Like the widow looking for her lost coin not giving up until it was found. (Luke 15:8-10)

Feel the focus, the wholeheartedness. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the LORD . . .” (Jeremiah 29:13).

But Lord, what about my personal needs, financial challenges, job issues, health, friends, and stuff like that? Those are valid things to pray about, but “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

Okay, Lord. High energy, persistent intensity, wholehearted seeking of you and your kingdom. I . . . We . . . want you, your kingdom, your purposes, your plans, your will be done on earth, in us, as it is in heaven. 

. . . knock and the door will be opened to you . . .

As these thoughts sink deep into my mind and heart, Luke’s parallel account of Jesus’ teaching on prayer comes to my mind. In Luke 11:1-13, Jesus has been praying “in a certain place”. His disciples have observed Jesus prays a lot, and that Jesus’ cousin John had taught his followers how to pray. It was common for rabbis to provide students with sample prayers.

One of the disciples asks Jesus to teach them to pray as well. Jesus provided a sample prayer very similar to what we commonly call “The Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father.” Then he tells the disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him’” (Luke 11:5-6).

In Jesus’ story, a friend is making a request of a friend because he or she has a friend who has unexpectedly arrived and the friend would like to borrow food from his friend to share with his other friend. The friend doesn’t want to give his friend food for his or her friend because he has already locked up the house and put the kids to bed. But the friend keeps knocking at his or her friend’s door because he or she really wants to be a good host to his or her friend who has just unexpectedly arrived. And he or she doesn’t happen to have food on hand for his or her friend.

Hmm. A lot of friend stuff going on here.

Jesus explains, “I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s boldness (persistence) he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (Luke 11:8).

Significantly, Jesus continues, “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” 

And then it’s as if Jesus continues, but this time speaking to me.

“Steve, this conversation has been about you asking me for things that you need, and for character traits that more accurately represent me in you. And I want you to persistently call on me and ask me for these types of things. They show me your faith and that your heart’s in the right place.

“But did you realize that I am also knocking. Yes, that’s the verse I’m bringing back to your mind. ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20) .

“I am far more motivated than you are for an intimate relationship together. Yes, the matter of the heart is the heart of the matter. I just want to come in and sit down and fellowship deeply with you. Not just over a meal though, but in every moment everyday.”

Three action verbs. And three promises.

Ask, it will be given. Seek, you will find. Knock, the door will be opened.

In Luke 11, as Jesus wraps up His response to the disciples request, “Teach us to pray,” He seems to add an exclamation point. He points out that a regular dad is motivated to give good things to his children when they ask. A regular dad wouldn’t give harmful things to a child. Rather, Jesus gives us another glimpse into the Father’s heart: “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13).

What an answer to prayer! The gift of God Himself as Holy Spirit, filling us with His character, coming in, settling in, making HImself at home, leading and guiding, empowering, transforming.

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.”

As people who pursue God’s heart, I wonder, for what would He have us earnestly and persistently ask?